Work Text:
Zelda sighed.
She, Link, Purah, Robbie, and Impa were attempting to put Terrako back together now that all of the parts had been collected, but it had spiraled quickly.
Purah, as per the usual, had been purposefully irritating Impa, which had devolved into a full-on shouting match between the two siblings; then Robbie had tried shouting over them to calm them down, but all attempts were fruitless. Impa must’ve just been tense already—fights rarely got this elevated in front of Zelda.
“-AND WHY WOULD THAT WORK?! WE’VE LITERALLY TRIED THAT SO MANY TIMES–”
“-YOU DON’T KNOW THAT! EXCUSE ME, BUT WHO’S THE SCIENTIST HERE?!”
Even Link, who almost never lost his cool, was starting to look annoyed. The princess, pinching the bridge of her nose, silently shared a “we have to stop this” face with Robbie, who nodded in agreement.
Right as she was about to create a blinding flash with her powers, though, Impa fell silent and stumbled away from the worktable, panting heavily. Purah thought she was just regaining her breath for a new round of insults and went at her twice as hard, sounding so condescending and terrifying that even Zelda took a step back.
“GETTING READY TO THROW SOME MORE SHADE AT ME, HUH? WELL, LEMME TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, YOU LITTLE BITCH–”
Ouch, Zelda thought-
“-YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO. YOU MAY BE THE PRINCESS’S PERSONAL ADVISOR AND ALL THAT, BUT THAT REALLY ISN’T THAT IMPORTANT COMPARED TO THE JOB LINK HOLDS, OR ME! JUST ADMIT IT! THE PRINCESS LIKES HIM MORE THAN YOU, AND THAT’LL NEVER CHANGE!”
Impa’s stance wavered, and she opened her mouth to give a stinging retort, only to collapse, a flash of fear visible in her amber eyes right before they closed.
Zelda’s eyes widened, and she rushed over to her advisor, catching her head before it could collide with the hard floor.
Purah stood frozen for a few seconds, presumably in shock, but soon shook herself out of her trance, striding over to her sister and roughly shoving the princess out of the way.
“Impa?” She asked carefully, the amount of sadness creeping into her voice thoroughly surprising everyone else in the room.
“Oh no...” she whispered when she noticed the minute shaking of Impa’s arms.
This must’ve been because of that blasted lightning incident. How convenient.
She felt a hand shaking her shoulders, and upon looking up she was met with Robbie’s concerned face. “What, Purah? Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
A nod. “Remember the whole lightning incident a few months back?”
“Yes, of course,” Zelda said, realization starting to dawn on her face. “Is this...”
“An aftereffect, I’m sure,” Purah finished quietly, laying a hand on her sister’s forehead and sighing in relief when it was a normal temperature. “Based on what we know of survivors of these kinds of things, they often experience seizures months and even years later, sometimes brought on by extreme stress, frustration, or anger...oh, Hylia,” she breathed, swallowing a sob. “ I caused this...what have I done?”
Robbie tapped her shoulder again, and she turned to see Link signing at her.
You weren’t thinking about that. None of us were. The fault lies with everyone-save Impa, of course, but you could even blame her a little bit, considering she knew what could happen and kept on fighting.
“...Still,” she muttered, stubbornly wiping away the tears spilling from her eyes. “I said such horrible things–gods, what was I thinking...”
“...Cherry,” Robbie murmured, hugging her from behind. “We all know that you can get carried away with things like this sometimes–as long as you apologize, I’m sure Impa will forgive you.”
“Hopefully.”
And, speak of the devil, a small but definitely recognizable voice said, “I do forgive you, Purah...I’m sorry, I wasn’t being very thoughtful, I should’ve remembered–”
The rest of Impa’s sentence was silenced when Purah fiercely wrapped her arms around her.
“No...it was both of us, but I guess this was a mistake we’ll both learn from, so this won’t ever happen again. I’m sorry,” the older sister said, pulling away and ruffling Impa’s hair. She usually would’ve complained and pushed Purah off, but she honestly couldn’t care less right now.
A valuable lesson had been learned, and it had been rough, but it ultimately would improve everyone’s lives (except for Purah’s, since she couldn’t be super annoying to Impa anymore, but she would think back to this; then her will would be rock solid).